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Karl Schembri
The Prime Minister yesterday made it clear that the soaring prices for the construction works at the Mater Dei Hospital which were stopped abruptly, were all the fault of “gross mistakes” and “inefficiencies” on the part of the contracted consortium, Skanska.
Speaking during his monthly press briefing, Lawrence Gonzi said that despite projected costs drawn up by Skanska back in 1999 in a Lm1.9 million report, actual costs have soared unexpectedly and the government would not pay for the consortium’s mistakes.
“We’re insisting with Skanska that the expenses for the Mater Dei Hospital are all to be justified and accounted for in a way that we won’t be paying for their inefficiencies and mistakes,” Gonzi said, adding that the government had taken important decisions on the projected costs provided by Skanska five years ago.
He said the instances where the prices increased because the government had changed plans were justified but otherwise Skanska had to answer for the changes in costs.
Mentioning the construction of internal roads as an example, Gonzi said that while in 1999 the consortium had projected a cost of Lm270,000, this somehow rose to Lm1.6 million over the years.
“Nobody is going to convince me that is a mistake,” Gonzi said. “We won’t budge when it comes to expenses that have just soared for no reason after we had agreed on the projected costs. If they (Skanska) were mistaken then it is up to them to shoulder responsibility.
“If we don’t reach an agreement then we will exercise all the powers that we have according to the contract we have with Skanska.”
The Prime Minister said the contract gave him the power to terminate the agreement, with the government ending up taking over the management.
“We can sue them and hold them responsible, and there is also the possibility of referring the case to arbitration,” Gonzi said.
“These are all possibilities we are considering. Skanska is now discussing with its subcontractors but that doesn’t concern us. The contract is with Skanska not with its subcontractors. If there are no developments I’ll summon Skanska’s highest officials and take it from there.”
When asked by MaltaToday about the responsibility of the Foundation for Medical Services and government ministers, Gonzi insisted that FMS had long been asking Skanska for an explanation about the soaring costs to no avail.
“FMS had an ongoing battle and I decided it was my turn to intervene and stop it. FMS has long been trying to solve this problem and asking for explanations from Skanska. They didn’t make it; the process did not come to a head. I want to intervene and draw a line. Now I want a commitment for an opening date of the hospital, and unless that commitment is honoured I will insist that there will be penalties which will involve a substantial amount of money.”
Asked why the former FMS chairman, Renè Formosa, had resigned, Gonzi said he did not know.
He also did not divulge how much the government was ready to pay Skanska for the construction of the hospital.
“I don’t want to favour Skanska by answering,” he said.
karl@newsworksltd.com
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